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What is the IETF? -- A note of caution

2000-12-14 17:10:02
As a representative of of one of the co-hosts for this meeting, I am equally gratified and terrorized to have the distinction hosting the largest IETF meeting to date (I fully expect this meeting to be surpassed soon). Fred's summary of the diversity of the IETF was truly impressive.

But in retrospect, one thing he said bothered me greatly. He mentioned there were representatives of some five hundred different organizations at this meeting. That too is impressive. But it's that word "representative" I find disquieting.

We are here not as corporate representatives, but as individuals committed to building the best Internet we can. Becoming part of a working group means you leave your company badge at the door. As the Internet has become more and more a commercial place, and the setting for business and commerce, the pressure to bend the way the Internet works to one's particular advantage at the expense of others increases.

This is not part of our heritage. It is not part of our Tao. We come together because the Internet belongs to no one country, or organization. Rather it exists for all. We can look forward to a Net which not only spans the Earth, but gives every person in every country, the opportunity and the means to learn from any other regardless of their home, their beliefs or their physical capabilities.

It is a wonderful thing. And we must remember it is our responsibility to preserve and enhance it for those who will come after.

--

john noerenberg
jwn2(_at_)qualcomm(_dot_)com
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  If we admire the Net, should not a burden of proof fall on those
  who would change the basic assumptions that brought it about in
  the first place?
  -- David Brin, "The Transparent Society", 1998
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